The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 637: Master Gao

Slum, Spice Nation, two o’clock in the morning.

More than a thousand short concrete buildings, tin houses, and temporary tents crowded to form a puzzle of messy pieces. In the left bottom corner was a tin house with only half of its rooftop intact, under which lay a frail, thin garbage collector with tanned skin. He was a wanderer, and unconscious, he lay on a few sheets of cardboard with a dirty worn rug covering him.

Bottles and trash cluttered the house. Qing Ling, Wang Zikai, Gray Bear, Nainai, and Hong Xiaoxiao waited in the dark corners quietly, each wearing a black cape.

Wang Zikai was snoring, asleep. He had taken a punch from Azure Dragon and crashed into a clock tower. It hurt like hell, but he was in no danger of dying, and he hadn’t lost consciousness.

Climbing to his feet amid the rubbles, he had wanted to rush back into a fight with Azure Dragon when he saw a giant Nainai and reluctantly gave up, frustrated. He decided to control himself for the plan because he didn’t want Gao Yang to be angry with him.

He easily killed a few elite monsters drawn by the ruckus and ran to their secret base in the slum to meet up with the others. When he arrived, Qing Ling and Nainai were already there.

He cursed up a storm and fell asleep in a corner after a few minutes—his powerful physique was maintained by great energy, and he had exhausted a lot of energy during his fight with Azure Dragon. His recovery rate was impressive, though. When others would need a week of rest to recover fully, he only needed a nap.

Not long after that, Gray Bear and Hong Xiaoxiao showed up, too, and Gray Bear was carrying Dr. Jia’s body on his shoulder.

Dr. Jia rose half an hour later.

“Ugh...”

He groaned before rolling around, retching and throwing up river water.

“Should we take him to the ICU?” Gray Bear teased as he smoked.

“No need,” said Qing Ling.

At the end of the day, Dr. Jia was an awakener and physically much stronger than regular humans. A few gulps of river water weren’t going to kill him.

“Hmph...it’s terrible, terrible...”

He slowly sat up to find five people in disguise. He slurred, “Who...who are you?”

“Dr. Jia, Seven Shadow would like to meet you,” said Qing Ling.

“Ah, you’re Seven Shadow’s...” Dr. Jia recovered his mind, and he suddenly said in heartache, “Oh, my lab, my parrot...”

Gray Bear laughed apologetically. “Things were urgent, and we couldn’t afford to care about all that.”

“What the fuck did I do wrong?” Dr. Jia got even angrier. “I’m just myself. I came abroad with my parrot to have a grand old time doing research, but then you suddenly whisked me away!”

“Calm down, Dr. Jia.” Hong Xiaoxiao smiled patiently and tried to communicate with him. “This company...our organization means you well...”

“Means me well?” Still angry, Dr. Jia wobbly got to his feet. “Care to explain what that fucking means?”

Qing Ling stood up and took a step forward, standing right in front of Dr. Jia.

“You’re their leader, aren’t you? Give me my lab back. Give me my parrot back...”

Thud.

Qing Ling punched him in the right eye. He toppled to the ground and blacked out.

She turned around to look at Nainai. “Disguise his face and put a necklace on him. We set out in half an hour.”

“Yeah.” Nainai ran up to him. “What kind of face?”

“Doesn’t matter.”

...

December first, two o’clock in the morning.

In a cheap B&B on Mizuya Street in Island Nation, Qing Ling, Nainai, and Dr. Jia sat on the tatami floor of the living room. The three had been disguised as visitors from West Nation. Qing Ling had to hold her Tang Dao to Dr. Jia’s neck to stop him from cursing.

Gao Yang sat on the only sofa in the room in a suit, crossing his legs elegantly with half a glass of wine, looking down at Dr. Jia closely.

Behind him stood Nine Frost. He had his hands collapsed before his abdomen with an impassive expression, acting like a loyal bodyguard.

Ten hours ago, Nine Frost’s Telepathy had reached level 4, and Heavenly Dog had departed with the Psyche Rune Circuit.

Gao Yang smiled. “We meet again, Dr. Jia.”

“Seven Shadow...”

“It’s Master Gao for you!” Nine Frost snapped darkly. “Before you is the leader of the Nine Scions.”

Gao Yang lifted his hand to silence him.

Shaking the wine glass in his hand, Gao Yang leaned forward and looked at Dr. Jia with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Apologies for taking you here in such a forceful way. I didn’t want to do this, but hey, you wouldn’t even call me Master Gao...”

“Gao Yang!” Dr. Jia wasn’t scared at all. “Stop the act. It doesn’t suit you! You look so young that I won’t even call you my son. Will you please speak like a normal person now? What do you want?”

“Ahem.” Gao Yang cleared his throat awkwardly, and Nine Frost scowled, feeling equally ill at ease.

Gao Yang gave up on the act. “I don’t think this suits me, either. Put away the blade, Qing Ling.”

Qing Ling lowered her Tang Dao and stepped away.

Gao Yang went up to sit down before Dr. Jia. “Please help, Dr. Jia. I’ve gotten into great trouble.”

“Seriously, why did you have to turn the Qilin Guild into your enemy?” Dr. Jia huffed. “You thought you could afford to do that?”

“I didn’t want to.” Gao Yang shrugged with a lightness he didn’t feel. “But they kept making me empty promises and forced me to work overtime. I couldn’t take it.”

“Stop already. What do you want?” Dr. Jia had calmed down somewhat.

“Join us.”

“Impossible,” Dr. Jia immediately rejected.

“Qilin isn’t a good person,” Nine Frost said icily.

“I don’t care.” And he clearly didn’t. “I don’t want to make anyone my enemy. That will only hinder my research and prevent me from getting the resources I need, including the blood and vital energy of awakeners, as well as Black Gold, intel, and other information.”

Gao Yang smiled wryly. There really is no place for loyalty in your research, Dr. Jia.

“Okay.” Gao Yang made a different offer. “Then please do me two favors, and I’ll let you go.”

“Tell me about them first.”

“First, I’d like some supply.” Gao Yang took out a list. “Have a look.”

Dr. Jia took the list: 30 shots of Medicine C, 20 shots of Medicine D, 20 shots of Medicine M, 20 Illusion Breaking Sprays, 30 shots of adrenaline shots for awakeners, 30 sleep gas grenades, 20 resurrection pills...

Gao Yang was asking for quite a lot, but not an unreasonable amount. If Dr. Jia had access to his lab, he could easily make that much.

However, his lab was gone. Thinking about it was enough to anger him again.

He scoffed. “Give me a lab and the raw ingredients, and I can do this for sure. While the medicines I make may not be as good as those One Stone made with Pharmacist, the difference isn’t that big.”

“Alright, I’ll provide part of the ingredients.” Gao Yang waved a hand, and Nine Frost laid down a black briefcase on the short table, opening it.

Inside was a 1.5 L bottle of blood and three Black Gold batteries storing vital energy, provided by Dead Pig, Adept Horse, and Songstress.

“This isn’t enough. Far from it. And I’ve lost my lab.”

“Don’t worry.” Gao Yang smiled faintly. “We’re borrowing arrows with thatched boats.”

Dr. Jia paused and broke into a laugh. “Oh, Master Gao, you never planned to have me join you, right?”